30 Rock: "The Natural Order"Review

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Tracy wants equality, while Jack figures out a secret.

By Robert Canning

As off-the-wall and unpredictable as 30 Rock can be, it does have a basic formula and it sticks to it. All the main characters have their role to play, and when they play it well, you get an episode like "The Natural Order." Even with the supposed "twist" ending, this was a fairly straightforward outing with jokes enough to make it funny, but nothing over the top to make it classic.

The major story at play Thursday was the battle for equality between Liz and Tracy. In this post-racial America, Tracy demanded to be treated like everyone else. Liz agreed. No more Duck Tour boats for pick ups, no more pointing at women in the cafeteria shouting, "I want to get that pregnant." And then a challenge was decreed: arrive to rehearsal on time and know your lines. Dot Com and Grizz warned Liz of the repercussions -- either Tracy was not going to show up at all, or he was going to show up and find an even worse way to act out. We got the latter.

It all played out well, with Tracy getting some laughs as the straight man, and Liz (or Tina Fey, really) getting to enjoy some physical comedy wrestling with a water bottle. But their challenge was a fairly standard affair that ended when neither could put up with the situation any longer. Both filled their roles: Tracy acted strange; Liz tried to hold it all together.

Elsewhere, Jenna befriended a gibbon. The gibbon arrived hilariously, as he was sent to the studio by Tracy as his replacement to show Liz how she's been treating him: "like a white-whiskered gibbon put on this Earth to do nothing but dance around for your amusement and reduce the insect population of Malaysia." But when Tracy moved on to the equality challenge, the gibbon was forgotten about. Enter Jenna. She rescued the gibbon from being released into the world by Kenneth, Grizz and Dot Com with a sign that read "Take Me to Indonesia." Jenna's time with the gibbon became weirder and hilariously weirder as the episode went on. We had cute costumes, happy erections and a doll baby that strangely made Jenna a grandmother.

This was funny stuff, but I did have a problem with Kenneth's involvement. First, he would never say something like, "Once he tries to mate with a child, I'm sure animal control will just shoot it." Kenneth's skewed and loving view of animals would more likely have him aligning with Jenna, not sensibly trying to talk her out of it. I would have much rather seen Pete Hornberger fill that role.

Though not the biggest part of the episode, Jack had the biggest moment. His mother Colleen was in town, which always offers up some fun familial angst. Jack has always had daddy issues, but they were never put to the forefront as much as in "The Natural Order." It was the anniversary of Jimmy Donaghy leaving his family for good, and Jack thought he'd be able to release some of that pain by telling off his mother's married companion. He used the same speech he had prepared for his father, replacing Khrushchev with Simon Cowell, but leaving in the part about being a Communist. It was funny, but I was expecting a much bigger and funnier reworked speech.

The ultimate reveal that Jimmy was not Jack's actual father was a fun twist, but nothing jaw-dropping. Jack's father, though referenced, was never a big part of the series; certainly not as big has Colleen. It was a nice set up for what could be a fun story arc for the remainder of the season, and it will be interesting to see more of Jack's personal life.